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Night falls on Twilight Football

(FIFA.com) 31 Oct 2009

In the seventh and final match of Sony's Twilight Football initiative, Twilightfootball.com (in white) took on streetfootballworld (in orange) at the Aquila Private Game Reserve in South Africa. The match began at a frantic pace as the surroundings soon turned golden in the light.

Twilightfootball.com managed to grab a second-half goal and then hung on for the 1-0 win. At the final whistle, streetfootballworld sang their opponents a traditional African song - a great way to end an amazing football series.

"It's one of these things that makes you feel like all the hard work
you do is rewarded," said streetfootballworld captain Xolani Sicamba,
who works with South African Homeless Street Soccer.

"I have
been telling the kids I work with that, if you keep working hard, then
one day you will be rewarded, and now for me to go back with this
experience will be a real inspiration to more youngsters to participate
in our project," he said.

The streetfootballworld side were recruited from groups that work with young people in the townships around Cape Town, specifically South Africa Homeless Street Soccer, Amandla Ku Lutsha and Grassroot Soccer. streetfootballworld is a global network of organisations that use football to address social issues such as education, health and women's rights. The Football for Hope Movement is a key element of the strategic alliance between streetfootballworld and FIFA.

"It was a brilliant experience to play in this setting," said Rob Leonard, the goalkeeper of the Twilightfootball.com side that emerged victorious. "To play with the guys from streetfootballworld has been awesome, I really enjoyed it."